How to use the 110v bed outlet

I wish this were the case. Only the good / safe appliances will have the UL mark. Too many cheap companies / unsafe appliances (and other devices) out there.

 

Best use I've found for it is running my trickle charger on the deep cycle for long hauls with my boat if I'm going to be fishing back to back with the trolling motor.

 

Just to let you know, Power does not equal volts times amps when dealing with AC, only DC.

Something with a motor for example, will draw a lot more current while running than its wattage would have you believe. The more inductive or capacitive the load, the more current it will draw compared to the work it can get done. So you may find that a 400W rated appliance still won't run.

To counter act this it does seem the inverter will handle a bit more than 400W since people ARE running some pretty high power factor devices on it, plus over 400W devices.

Either way the unit for this kind of thing in AC is VA (Volt Amps).

 

Any legit device gives you its ratings based on Normal Load. A blender will give you a 450 W rating, which is based on its power draw while blending. Of course if you put cement in the blender, it will load down the motor more, but that is not a "normal load". Look for the UL mark, and use the appliance as intended. It will not draw more then 110% of its rating.

 

You're not pickin up what I'm saying.

A 450W blender will draw 450 real watts under load. But because a blender is an inductive load, it will draw more current than 450W/120V (3 amps). In reality a blender will draw something like 3.5 amps since the current is so far out of phase with the voltage. It will then return that current to the wall, BUT you still need cables and power supplies spec'd for the 3.5 amps, not the 3.0 amps it advertises.

Here is some reading on the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor

What it really means to you is while inverters claim they are spec'd to a certain power, they are actually spec'd to a certain current limit. While a very inductive load might claim it is 400W, you may need a 450W inverter to run it, that's all.

 

You are right .. and wrong. A majority usually end up with a 0.9X PF, so the difference is usually very minute. BTW, I have years of data to back that up

 

I know it depends on the load. Some loads which are heavily inductive could get quite a bit higher than that.

Even on 0.9 power factor, you need a 450 watt inverter (444W actually) to run a 400W device.

Some are lower than 0.9 as well.

Wasn't meant to be a big debate though all I'm saying is if you are already near the limit and your device wont run anyways, this could be the cause.

I imagine inrush current on a motor type load near the limit would also be a big problem that trips the breaker.

I personally kind of want to see if I can fit a full circuit inverter somehow in the area to replace the stocker.

Run some fat battery cables to it. Add a couple plugins in the cab, and change the wiring for the plugin in the box (too thin for full circuit).

Be a fun project anyways.

 

^ This. And pretty dumb marketing, if you ask me.

What I don't understand is why they put the outlet in the bed and not inside the cab. Seems like 95% of people would use it to plug in a laptop or to charge batteries for electronic items inside the cab. Nobody wants to power a laptop or charge batteries in the bed of their truck.

If you are gonna put an outlet in the bed, it should at least be run off an inverter that is able to handily power most power tools, which would be used on your tailgate. IMO, if you can't even run a circular saw off the plug, why bother having it in the bed?

I think you meant 3.3A, not 33A

 

No it's 33A.

400W/12vDC=33A

 

I needed to charge my phone once and didn't have a car charger..

I put extention cord from bed through rear center window and into cab where I could plug my phone in...

Personally, I love the out let.. I've found lots of uses

It powers my compressor and shop vac fine and work lights fine

 

Oh I completely misread what you wrote -- I thought you were saying the inverter was able to produce 33A (at 115V AC). Reading comprehension problems, my bad.

 

400w/110vac = 3.6 amps...

400w/12vdc = 33.3 amps...

workes the same for AC as it does DC... maybe i'm confused on what your saying...

 

i ran a box fan all weekend while camping in the ozarks, also used an air pump for matresses at the same time as the fan was running. it meets expectations, didnt expect it to replace electricity to my home

 

Sweet, thats what i wanted to run with mine... Glad it works!

 

I've never used the outlet in the bed, but I always use the ones that I put in the cab that run off the stock inverter. When I was in the academy and I needed a break from everyone, I would plug my old school SNES into the power outlet and then plug the RCA outs into my AVIC-D3 and then play Super Mario or StarFox for hours. I would get odd looks, especially since I cranked the sound and was parked in the underground parking.

 

I've ever only used it for what it was originally designed, a blender to mix cold margaritas with while camping. It worked flawlessly. Thank you Toyota!

 

It doesn't work the same unfortunately.

A drill that is rated for 400W say at 120V for example. Using simple ohms law you would guess the drill draws 3.33 amps. But since it is a motor the power factor might be 0.9 or something (Pulling numbers out of my ass). This would mean the actual current is 3.7 amps. This would mean your inverter would need to be rated for 444 "Watts" to run the drill. That power would be returned to the inverted but the extra current DOES flow and must be accounted for.

So if you find something that is 400W but is motor based so probably has a crappy power factor, you may not be as safe as you thought, that is all.

Since it appears the actual thing trips somewhat higher than 400W, it obviously would not be an issue in this case, but is something to take into account.

 

I'm glad Toyota added the bed-mounted 110v power outlet. I use mine to recharge the 18v batteries for my Dewalt cordless power tools (drills, saws, grinders, worklights, etc).

With two chargers plugged in (using a plug adapter), I can run my tools all day without interruption (alternating between three batteries, one in whichever tool I'm using and two charging).

So far, the truck has not failed to start afterwards. However, since the truck is brand new (two weeks), cannot really say how the truck's battery might react to all this over the long run.

 

Did anyone ever swap out the taco inverter for something like the 1000 watt harbor freight model?

 

A motor produces it's own resistance...known as EMF or CEMF (Google it). I'm going to use your example...
A 400W drill running with 120v should draw 3.33 like you stated but due to EMF or CEMF (The .9 you are talking about), this 3.33 is SMALLER...not bigger. if you multiply by anything less than 1 (power factor of .9 as you stated), your answer will be smaller than what you started with. Not trying to be a dick but you were starting to confuse me....and I know a thing or two about electricity.

So a MOTOR, which produces it's own resistance, the amp draw can't be determined with using Ohm's law. Unless of course you have the Power Factor. Normally you can just look at the rating plate though and it'll tell you what the RLA or Run Load Amps of the device is. Hope this helps if some were backwards.

Edit... The 3.33 x .9 (PF)= 2.99 amps